Kirabo (2 page)

Brady’s heart was beating very fast but he refused to turn back. If Kirabo can come this far into the cave then I can too, he thought to himself. A little dog ran up to him, wagging its tail and barking happily. Brady blinked in shock. It was Togo, Kirabo’s toy dog.

“Togo?” Brady asked in a surprised voice.

The dog woofed happily in reply. Brady knelt down and Togo jumped into his arms licking his face and making Brady giggle.

“Okay, Togo, show me where Kirabo is,” Brady said, putting the dog down.

Togo rushed off deeper into the cave with Brady following close behind.

He didn’t have far to go. Just around the corner Brady heard a girl singing. She had such a beautiful voice that without realising it Brady had stopped walking just so he could listen. Brady had never heard Kirabo sing before, or even talk. His mum said it was because she was very sad about her parents going away. Togo stopped and gave a little cry, telling Brady that he wanted him to follow. Trying to be as quiet as he could, Brady followed the little dog around the corner.

Kirabo was sitting on the floor in front of a large rugged wall singing,

‘Hush now, dear, and dry your tears,

I am here to ease your fears.

The time has come to smile once more

To laugh and play as you did before.’

Brady was just about to step forward and say how beautiful the song was when the cave began to rumble and shake.

“Thank you, Kirabo,” a voice boomed.

Brady looked up to see a giant looking down at Kirabo.

“Aaahh!” Brady yelled.

“Aaahh!” the giant yelled.

The whole cave shook as if it was in the middle of an earthquake and Brady had to grab hold of the wall to stop himself from falling over.

“It’s alright, Cedric,” Kirabo said gently. “This is Brady. He is part of the family I’m staying with.”

“Hello,” Cedric boomed.

Brady looked up at the giant. In all the stories he had read about giants they were never very nice and they liked to eat people. Brady did not want to be eaten by a giant.

“Don’t worry, Cedric is a very nice giant,” Kirabo said, as if she had read Brady’s mind. “Cedric is like me. He doesn’t have a family nearby or any friends. He has tried to make friends with the people who live in the village but they are unkind to him.”

Brady looked up at Cedric. Now that he had got over the shock of meeting a giant for the very first time, Brady saw how sad he looked.

“Hello, Cedric,” Brady said. “I’m sorry people are unkind to you.”

Cedric smiled a great big smile. “Thank you.”

“I think it’s because they are scared of you. I’m sure if people got to know you they would like you,” Kirabo said.

“The people in the villages just have to see me and they scream and run away,” Cedric said, giving a loud sad sniff. “Some even throw stones and wooden spears at me.”

“I can go and make friends with them and tell them how kind you are. Then they will be your friends and you won’t be all alone,” Kirabo said cheerfully.

“Really? Would you do that just for me?” Cedric asked.

“Yes, of course I would,” Kirabo said.

“I’ll help too,” Brady added.

Kirabo frowned. “But why? You haven’t been very nice to me or made me feel very welcome.”

Brady thought about how he hadn’t wanted Kirabo to come and live with him and his mum and dad. For the first time he thought about how sad Kirabo must feel at having her mum and dad so far away and living in a strange house. He felt very bad about the way he had acted.

“I’m sorry,” Brady said, going red. “And I really would like to help.”

Kirabo looked at him for a long time. “Okay,” she said. “Let’s go down to the village and see if we can talk to the people there.”

Cedric tried to stand up but as he did he hit his head on the roof of the cave.

“Ouch!” he said, rubbing his head. “The entrance to the cave is this way,” he said, showing them the way. “You can see the village from up here. It shouldn’t take you too long to get there,” Cedric explained as they walked.

Kirabo and Brady came out of the cave and into bright sunlight. They saw a magical land filled with lots of beautiful colours.

“Wow!” Brady said, taking a deep breath.

“It’s so beautiful,” Kirabo agreed.

There were fields that were filled with flowers of every colour they could imagine and mountains that stretched high into the pale blue sky.

“Look, there’s the village,” Cedric said, pointing.

The village stood close to a large lake that sparkled in the sunlight. The houses were large round buildings made of wood and stone and each had a thatched roof. From so high up Kirabo and Brady could see the smoke from the chimneys rising high into the air.

“Okay, let’s go,” Brady said.

Togo gave an excited bark and wagged his tail as they set off down the cliff.

“I don’t understand,” Brady said quietly. “We were in the attic. I saw you climb inside a box. How can we be here and how can your dog be alive?”

Kirabo gave a little laugh. “My grandparents are from Togo, a place in Africa. It’s why I called my dog Togo. My grandmother knows a lot about magic and she tried to teach my mother all she knew but she said my mother didn’t have the gift. When I was born my grandmother said that the gift had been passed on to me. That is why they called me Kirabo – it means gift. So when I play, my games come to life,” she explained.

“Wow!” Brady said in amazement. “So you can go anywhere, and do anything?”

Kirabo smiled and nodded. Suddenly a bright blue butterfly fluttered by.

“Hello,” it said, turning to look at them. “I’m so glad you are helping poor Cedric. He’s been so lonely hiding away in that cave. I try and pop by most days to see how he is.”

Brady’s mouth fell open in shock.

“Hello,” Kirabo said, as if talking to a butterfly was the most natural thing in the world. “I’m glad Cedric has someone who cares about him. We are off to the village to see if they will be friends with him.”

“Be careful,” the butterfly said, frowning. “The villagers are not very friendly. They are much too busy with their own lives to be nice to other people. Anyway, I must go. If I can help, just call out my name – it’s Wilbur,” he called as he fluttered away.

“A talking butterfly,” Brady said in a shocked voice.

“Come on, we are nearly there,” Kirabo said.

As they reached the village, a man called out, “Go away, we are too busy for visitors.”

“We only came to say hello,” Brady said rather crossly at the rude man.

The man was sweating as he hammered a wooden post into the ground. Kirabo and Brady noticed that much of the fence was broken and that many of the houses had been damaged too. The whole village seemed to be in one big rush. Wherever Kirabo and Brady looked people were dashing about carrying wood to rebuild the fence or rocks and straw to fix their homes.

“Damon, stop being so rude, they are only children,” his wife said as she came over to meet them. “Hello,” she said. “I’m Bridget. Would you like a cold drink?”

“Yes please,” Kirabo said. “It’s very hot today.”

Bridget led them into her house. It was much bigger than it looked from the outside.

“There you are,” she said as she poured them some juice. “I’m sorry about Damon. We are all working very hard so that we can be ready for 4 o’clock.”

Brady took a long gulp of his drink before putting his glass down. “What happens at 4 o’clock?” he asked.

Bridget looked at him in surprise, “Well, that is when the Rhinosophants come.”

Seeing the confused looks on Kirabo’s and Brady’s face, she explained. “Every day at 4 o’clock the Rhinosophants come running down to the lake to bathe and to drink. There are so many of them. They run straight through our village, knocking down our fences and our homes. We spend all of our time rebuilding them, only to have them knocked down again the following day.”

“Why don’t you move?” Brady asked.

“We need to be close to the water too. We have tried moving to other places around the lake but the same thing always happens. If it’s not the Rhinosophants then it’s the Buffalopes or the Bearboons.”

A large tear rolled down her cheek. Kirabo and Brady felt very sorry for her.

“What we need is something much bigger and stronger than that wooden fence,” Damon said as he came into the house.

“What about the large rocks at the bottom of the cliffs?” Kirabo suggested.

“Are you joking?” Damon said in surprise. “Those rocks are bigger than me. We could never move them.”

Just then, Wilbur flew in through the open window. Brady noticed a sudden twinkle in Kirabo’s eye.